Iran’s Khamenei rejects nuclear deal that would eliminate enrichment
‘A nuclear industry without enrichment capabilities is useless because we would then be dependent on others to obtain fuel for our power plants,’ Iranian supreme leader says

Iranian Leader Press Office / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei makes remarks during a ceremony marking the first anniversary of the death of former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in northern Iran last year, in Tehran, Iran, on May 20, 2025.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected a nuclear deal with the “rude, insolent” U.S. that would require the Islamic Republic to stop enriching uranium, one of President Donald Trump’s core requirements for any nuclear agreement.
In a speech at the mausoleum of former Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, which was translated and posted on Khamenei’s official X account, the Iranian leader said that Iran’s “enemies have focused all their attention on this very process of uranium enrichment.”
“A nuclear industry without enrichment capabilities is useless because we would then be dependent on others to obtain fuel for our power plants,” he said.
Iran’s supreme leader railed against the American demand, saying that it would make his country “reliant on them for radiopharmaceuticals, energy, desalination equipment and in tens of other critical sectors.”
“The rude, insolent U.S. leaders want this. They’re opposed to progress and self-sufficiency for the Iranian people … Those in power today — the Zionists and the Americans — should know they can’t do a damn thing in this area,” Khamenei stated.
“What the U.S. is demanding is that [Iran] should have no nuclear industry at all and be dependent on them. To the American side and others we say: Why are you interfering and trying to say whether Iran should have uranium enrichment or not? That’s none of your business,” Khamenei argued.
Khamenei’s remarks came a day after Trump posted on Truth Social that “under our potential Agreement — WE WILL NOT ALLOW ANY ENRICHMENT OF URANIUM!”
The Trump administration has reportedly been negotiating an interim deal that would allow Iran to enrich uranium to 3% until a final agreement is reached in which the Islamic Republic can no longer enrich its own uranium. Under the terms of the proposal, the U.S. would facilitate the construction of dedicated enrichment plants in the Middle East to provide Iran with uranium for civilian use.
The International Atomic Energy Agency reportedly sent a confidential report to member states last week that said Iran had increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium by about 50%. Iran is believed to have material that can be converted into about 10 nuclear weapons in less than two weeks, according to U.S. estimates. American intelligence has assessed that it would take Tehran a few months to assemble a nuclear bomb using the weapons-grade fissile material.